About Me

I truly believe I am the luckiest girl in the world. At 23 years old, I've had more life-changing experiences than most do in an entire lifetime. From sailing around the world to dancing down Main Street USA, I have to wonder how this is all real.

What's Next?

For the first time in a while, I'm not really sure where my life is headed. I'll be heading to Florida after graduation to continue working for Disney, but in terms of major plans, all I know is that I want to make a difference. I'm not sure where, and I'm not sure how, but unknowing adventure is an idea I've definitely become more comfortable with over the years.

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Sunday, April 1, 2012

Singapore is the real-life Tomorrowland. No joke. This city is so modern
it scares me. Technology that we haven't even begun thinking of in the
United States is already the norm and some modes of transportation
include not only cars, but monorails and skyway cable cars! The
buildings are tall, uniquely shaped, glossy, clean and architecturally
gorgeous. Also, there is Mickey stuff everywhere. Now, where's space
mountain? I'm ready to travel outside the globe.
We only had one day in Singapore. It was kind of upsetting but I understand entirely why they would do it. Singapore has A LOT of laws. And by A LOT I mean, more rules than Disney has cast member rules. Chewing gum will run you a $1000 fine, eating in a public place will cost you $500, littering $2500, spitting will get you some sort of fine I can't remember, drunk driving gets you caining (beaten repetitively with a bamboo cane, this happens for a lot of punishments) and drug traffic gets you the death sentence. There are more heavy-duty fines, but I think the point comes across. Needless to say, the city (Singapore is the name for both the city and the country) is extremely clean and extremely safe, but the rules are so strict that I can understand entirely why SAS wouldn't want to deal with staying overnight as the immaturity level of some of these students would surely get them into serious trouble.
So we only had one day in Singapore and unfortunate for me I also had an FDP. An FDP is a trip required for a class, and lucky for me, my History of Modern China class offered exactly 2 FDPs (2 are required for each class, so thanks for the wide variety of flexibility and selection, professors). One was a walking tour of Cape Town (see that blog for how ridiculous that was) and this was the second. Needless to say, I was pretty upset that I had a Chinese history FDP in a country that isn't China, and the last FDP for this class (Cape Town) had absolutely nothing to do with any of the Eastern World. However, this FDP turned out to be pretty enjoyable. Immigration took ao. Part of this was because of the strict system of security we all had to go through before w lot longer than we anticipated, and we didn't leave for an hour after we had been scheduled te could leave the dock though too. When we left we went to the center of town and spent about an hour just walking around looking at some of the old buildings. One thing I noticed was that there was just construction EVERYWHERE, and the new Supreme Court building literally looked a UFO. It was crazy! After about an hour we ended up at the Raffles Hotel, a beautiful 6-star historic resort. We were given half an hour to roam around and while a lot of people went to the bar to buy $30 Singapore Slings (why do SAS kids always need to be drinking?), I actually saw the place. It was completely gorgeous, and the bathroom was a joyous experience as it was the first toilet off of the ship that I had seen in months that didn't have bugs AND had electric hand dryers! Whoa, I almost forgot what that feels like! The hotel costs $700 a night, and there was a lot of areas blocked off to us non-guests, but it was still nice to see and I liked that we had some freedom on our trip.
After Raffles we went to the subway and took it to Chinatown. The subway system is so clean and prompt, and so much more impressive than at home. The station and the lines are spotless, modern and gorgeous, and the schedule of trains was perfect. We had to transfer trains to get on the right line, but even so it barely took any time. They even had certain loading areas for those getting off and those getting on! When we got off in Chinatown it was a really strange feeling because we were only a week away from actual China at that point! Chinatown was beautiful, and looked very authentic, but the whole time I was consumed with this notion of how comparable is this to the real thing? And I became anxious for my upcoming visit. Another thing that I noticed was all the Mickey/Disney stuff. I've learned on this voyage that I literally can spot Mickey from a mile away, and he was literally everywhere here! So exciting!!!! But before I could buy everything in sight, we went to have lunch at a Chinese dim-sum restaurant. I got a confirmation that I probably won't be eating in China, but oh well. So I scarfed a protein bar and was good to go. After lunch we had half an hour to go shopping before we were to head back to the ship. Everything in Chinatown was way cheaper than the rest of Singapore, so I ended up buying a good amount of stuff. However, with 3 for $10 tee-shirts I really can't complain since everything in the port and in the areas we had passed were 5-6x the price.
By the end of the tour, everyone had signed out of the trip except for 6 of us. Well, the tour company had arranged for us to have a double decker bus, so 8 of us (6 students + 2 professors) got the whole top to ourselves! So cool!
I was set to arrive back at the port at 2:45. Lexi had an FDP that morning too, so we were going meet at the port and Michael and Dain were going to come back from their AM adventure to the Marina Bay Sands hotel so we could all go out. Lexi was there when I got back, but the boys weren't. After about 15 minutes, we started to get worried and we started walking around the mall (our port was attached to not one, but two malls!), towards the subway, trying to find them. We also turned on our phones and tried to call them but we just couldn't get in touch with them. Around 3:30, we were just getting directions to Orchard Street to go ourselves from the information desk when Dain came up sprinting. Michael had something come up so he didn't make it, but Dain had come back himself and gotten lost on the subway. Thank god this was Singapore and you will be cained for crime, because if this was any other port I would've probably been petrified of the fact that he had traveled alone, but it was so nice of him to come back for us and it really meant a lot to both of us as we were so worried about them.
So Dain, Lexi and I went back to the subway and went over to Orchard Street. By the time that we got off it was DOWNPOURING out, but I didn't care. This was actually the first downpour we have seen on land in this voyage yet, and it felt refreshing. The rain really turned out to be a sign of the day was going to continue going - from not being able to get off the ship, to missing dain and michael, to getting lost on the train, to walking the wrong way, to a place we were planning on going not being open, to trying to meet up with others and have it not work - but hey, when life gives you rain, dance it in. And that's literally what Lexi and I did. We jumped and ran around and played in the rain, and the two of us and Dain just trudged up and down the streets of nowhere and got absolutely nothing accomplished and had the most amazing time in the world.
We had to be back on the ship by 9, so we came back to the mall area around 5 and decided to do some shopping. As it turns out, this became our rainbow! As we finally found stamps, a flag and Chinese skittles! We even got to go on the dock and take our nighttime skyline pictures with Universal Studios Singapore in the background! By the time that we made it back on, dinner was over, so we went to get food on Deck 7 and watch us sail away. I wish we could have stayed overnight, but honestly, after seeing all the laws in Singapore I understand completely why we can't. Had we had a second day, however, Universal Studios Singapore would have been happening. But I feel content with my one day here and had a great time. Singapore is the first port so far though that I really want to go back to.
But for now, we sail forward towards Vietnam, very slowly since we are so close and actually have to class in between, but still sailing!
Gluten free: Not sure since I only spent 1 meal here and it was at a Chinese place.
Safety: Probably the safest country in the world, since any sort of crime will lead to the government beating you and your wallet.